


Domesticated

by Unease



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:27:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23266963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unease/pseuds/Unease
Summary: Majorly fluffy oneshot looking at an all-grown-up Yang/Blake relationship in snapshots. Mentions of White Rose.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction.net like 7 years ago, but then I wrote a new chapter. All you kids are on AO3 these days so I thought I'd post it on here too! I may add more chapters in the future, depends if the writing bug bites. Hope you all enjoy :)

_ Never again. _

Blake thought it was a good idea at the time to take Yang up on her offer, but was regretting that decision more and more by the second.

The car rumbled down the road, Yang perched behind the beaten steering wheel looking increasingly agitated as the scenery whizzed by. Blake was pinching the bridge of her nose, wishing she could just turn back the clock and say  _ 'no Yang, it's okay, I'll drive today, being pregnant doesn't make me unable to do basic tasks' _ . In the back seat, their four-year-old daughter Ellie found the whole situation highly amusing, clutching a raggedy teddy imaginatively dubbed ‘Mister Bear’ to her chest.

"It's around here," Yang stated with conviction. "It's definitely around here. I remember that sign."

"Yang, there are speed limit signs everywhere," Blake responded, losing the will to live. "It's our daughter's first day at school, you don't know where the school is - even though you said you did, may I add - and you won't ask for directions."

"Why didn't  _ you _ look up the directions before we set off?" The blonde asked, gripping the wheel until her knuckles turned white, time ticking on. She  _ refused _ to be late, especially when it was her daughter's first day at stake.

"Don't blame this on me, Xiao Long," Blake replied, ice cold. "I told you to take the right, but of course  _ you _ knew a shortcut. I'd check my phone, but  _ someone  _ pulled out the charger last night and forgot her own phone."

Yang cringed at her wife's tone, knowing that it was truly her own fault for this mess. She would have to clean it up herself. Her keen eyes scanned the road carefully, looking for any clues whatsoever; if she didn't get this shit-show back on the road then she'd be sleeping on the sofa indefinitely, and with age came back pains that a night on the couch would only amplify. 

The clock rolled another minute closer to the opening time.

"I'll get us there, don't worry-"

"Don't worry? I am  _ so _ past that point."

"Mommy, where are we?" Ellie interjected, looking out of the window wide-eyed as the trees merged into a blur.

"Ask your Mom, I'm sure she knows where we are perfectly well," Blake said calmly, placing her hands on her ever-growing baby bump, trying to ignore the stress pressing against her temples. 

Yang did not respond to the snipe, choosing wisely to remain silent and avoid digging herself in any deeper. Gritting her teeth, she tried hard to remember the maps they had looked at when choosing a school, with only a hazy criss-cross of random roads coming to mind.

She turned on the radio, hoping to dissipate the tension with some tunes from their favourite station, Semblance FM. Jovial voices filled the car, but the blonde hardly noticed, too preoccupied by the clock which now read '08:45'. She had fifteen minutes for lady luck to bless her with something special.

"Take this next right," Blake commanded. 

Yang did as she was told, unwilling to butt heads any more than they had done already. The instruction brought them to a junction where Yang saw (with immense relief) a sign directing the way to the school, finally admitting to herself that Blake was the better navigator.

_ 'It's gonna be okay, we're gonna make it _ ,  _ we're gonna make it _ ,'' Yang repeated in her head, the mantra barely keeping the lid of her temper from blowing off completely as they joined a long line of traffic. A car had broken down at the front of the queue, and nothing seemed to be moving.  _ 'The school is just three minutes up ahead, we're gonna make it, Blake isn't gonna hate me _ .'

**_Crunch!_ **

All of her nervous tension exploded when a car rear-ended theirs, causing Blake to gasp and instinctively place her hands around her stomach. 

Ellie began to cry, and Yang snapped. 

She kicked open the car door, flying to the driver's side of the car behind and grabbing the man’s starched white collar through his open window, a mobile phone falling from his hand into the footwell. He yelped as two angry eyes blazed furiously into his.

"Listen to me, asshole. I have a pregnant wife and young child in that car, and all I wanna do is get them to school, and… and... damn it, you  _ fuckwit _ ! What were you doing?! You could have killed them! I swear if this collision hurt a hair on their heads I'm gonna-"

"Yang, it's nearly nine!" Blake called, leaning out of her window to watch the scene, feeling a little bit of pride as she watched the exchange. Yang reluctantly let the man go before mustering a glare that said  _ 'if I see you again, you're dead, kiddo' _ . 

Walking back to her own car, she had an idea.

"I'll be back before this line of traffic even moves, I promise!" Yang rushed, opening the back passenger door and unstrapping Ellie from the car seat. She picked up her daughter and wiped her tears, giving her a kiss on the forehead before shifting her onto her back. The young girl then wrapped her legs around her mother's waist and arms around her neck, her long black hair a stark contrast to Yang's blonde. "We're going on an adventure, Ellie. Cheer up!"

Yang waited until she was safely on the pavement before breaking into a run, determined to make it to the school before it opened. Blake watched, unable to contain a smile as her wife disappeared around a corner and out of her view. "Your mother is a weird woman," she said aloud, shaking her head.

Yang meanwhile had slowed to a walk as she neared the school, not wanting to drop her precious cargo, especially since she was already in Blake’s legendary Bad Books. Ellie suddenly tugged on her hair, making her hiss in pain.

"C'mon fuckwit, we're gonna be late!" Ellie cried, pointing at the school. 

The blood in Yang's veins turned to ice. Her eyes widened. Her heart began to pound. 

"Ellie," she started, fear building as she imagined Blake's fury, palpable and barely contained beneath the veneer of a neutral face. "Don't you ever say that word, especially not when Mommy is around."

Ellie giggled, the sound carrying an evil melody to Yang’s trained ear.  _ This one's gonna give me hell. _

"What's the matter?" Blake asked as Yang returned to the car, correct in her prediction that the line of traffic wouldn’t move in the slightest. "Are you feeling sick? You're really pale."

"Uh, I-I guess it's too much running." Yang replied, wanting to cry on the spot and confess her sins. “Not in the shape I used to be!”

Blake knew this was a lie: her wife was relatively athletic, and a short jog would have no impact whatsoever. However, she decided to not push the topic. Yang had redeemed herself in the last fifteen minutes, after all, and Blake had no desire to carry on the argument. 

There was one thing that Blake still needed her to do, however.

"You forgot Mister Bear."

* * *

Yang loved to sit on the sofa with Blake watching awful TV shows whilst Ellie was at school. The perks of having her own property maintenance business meant that she could be at home more often through the pregnancy, available for every menial task Blake set for her. From hammering a few nails for more family photos to pulling ridiculous amounts of hair from the vacuum, no task was too small for Yang Xiao Long, whipped-wife extraordinaire.

It was a typical Tuesday morning when Blake asked her who child number two would resemble most. Yang paused thoughtfully and laid her hand on Blake's swelled stomach. She hiked the shirt up, leaning over to kiss the skin tenderly.

"Well, Ellie looks like you but acts like me. I bet this one's the opposite!" She said excitedly. "That's why you're not being kickboxed into next week."

Blake remembered the first pregnancy very well. As soon as Ellie grew legs and could start kicking, she did. For hours on end. Every single day. She knew that Ellie was definitely a mini-Yang in the making; she came into the world active and boisterous, and that didn't look like it would stop any time soon.

With this pregnancy, things were quieter. The downside was that her back ached incessantly, and no matter how she shifted on the sofa, no position was working.  _ Definitely the last one. If Yang wants any more she can carry them herself. _

Yang watched her curiously. "What's up?" She asked, an eyebrow raised as Blake flopped down in defeat. 

Blake's eyes closed, exhaling in pain. "My back is killing me," she admitted, feeling drained. "Will you get the ice cream? It won’t help, but I can pretend."

"We're out of ice cream," Yang said, already formulating a plan to help her wife. Blake gave her a disapproving look, and Yang already knew what would be asked of her.

"Go buy some then," the black-haired woman demanded, closing her eyes as she slumped sidewards and rested her head on a cushion. 

Yang smiled, running her fingers through raven tresses for a few minutes. She would do anything for Blake; heading to the store was barely an inconvenience.

* * *

Scratching her head, she tried to find Blake's favourite flavour.  _ I swear they breed more flavours every time I look. Who the hell would enjoy marshmallow-fluff in ice cream? Freaks, that’s who. _

"Hey Yang," one of the aforementioned freaks greeted next to her, Yang turning to see Ruby scanning the fridge, undoubtedly looking for anything that had a minimum sugar content of eighty-five percent. She had dark circles under her eyes, skin pale and blotchy - hardly the picture of health. 

Yang frowned in concern, touching her sister's cheek lightly. "You okay, Ruby? Shouldn’t you be at work?" She asked, bloodshot silver eyes meeting her own.

"Weiss had really bad morning sickness, so I took the day off to take care of her. Just out on the craving run, you know?" Her sister replied, biting back a yawn as she rubbed her face.

"Weiss has you working like a dog," Yang said, "you look like you need sleep, badly. Aren't you exhausted? 

"Nah, it’s fine,” Ruby mumbled through another yawn. “I want to make her as comfortable as I can, she gets all cuddly when she's satisfied, it's so cute-" She was interrupted by her phone ringing, and she answered it quickly. Yang could hear Weiss shouting through the phone, the familiar snarl making her laugh.

_ "Where are you with my cookies? I swear Ruby, I  _ _ swear _ _ I am craving  _ _ so _ _ hard right now and I just want to cry. If you don't get home soon I will shed tears over everything we own and it  _ _ won't _ _ be pretty," _ Yang heard, Ruby gasping in response as she clutched the phone tighter.

"N-no, I'm coming Weiss! Don't cry, please!" She pleaded, bobbing up and down in frustration.

"She's so needy," Yang commented, smirking when she heard an angry  _ "watch your mouth, Yang Xiao Long or so help me I will kick your-" _

Ruby stopped the phone call before she could carry on, piling cookies from a nearby shelf into her cart, bidding her older sister goodbye as she went to pay for her goods. Even though they were all grown up, some things never did change; Ruby still being Weiss's servant in every single way was one. The two did love each other immensely despite the odd dynamic, a point proven when Weiss begged for Yang's help in proposing to Ruby. They were due to be married the next year, their first child well on its way.

When Yang had finally located the elusive ice cream, she took out her phone and dialled Nora.

"Hello!" A cheery voice rang out, full of energy. Yang smiled.

"Hey Nora. Can you look after Ellie tonight? I want to do something special for Blake," she requested, knowing Nora would agree immediately.

"Sure! Ren can pick her up after school."

Yang expressed her thanks, hanging up and paying for the ice cream. When she arrived home, Blake was no longer in the living room on the sofa, instead curled up on their king-size bed, a pained look on her face even in the midst of sleep. Yang spent a few minutes softly stroking her hair and tracing her face with the backs of her fingers. She loved Blake and their children more than anything on the planet, and was so grateful for the random chance of fate that threw them together.

She reluctantly pulled away to begin her work downstairs, hoping to make her wife's pain a little more bearable.

* * *

"Yang, what is this?" Blake asked, their living room decked out in candles, pillows spread over the floor. The lamp was turned on low, the lighting warm.

"You're getting the best massage of your life," Yang told, giving Blake a quick kiss on the lips.

"That's great, but..." Blake trailed off, looking for any sign of their daughter's existence apart from the building blocks hastily shoved in the corner of the room. "Where is Ellie? You did remember to pick her up from school, right?"

Yang looked hurt. "Babe, that happened  _ once _ ."

Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Okay maybe twice, but I swear she's okay. She's sleeping at Nora and Ren's house so we could have some time alone," Yang explained, directing Blake to kneel on some pillows she had set up near the sofa with her arms resting on the seat. This gave adequate space for the baby bump and ensured that Blake was comfortable enough for the massage, according to the Scroogle search Yang had made an hour prior.

"Did you get my ice cream?" Blake asked, feeling her threadbare button-up shirt slipped from her shoulders and her hair moved out of the way. She gritted her teeth when she felt Yang apply oil to her back in smooth sweeping motions, goosebumps erupting from her skin.

"Yep. I saw Ruby there too, picking stuff up for Weiss, apparently," Yang replied, first focusing on Blake's shoulders and grinning when she heard her moan. From then, there was no further conversation, just quiet groans of content as strong hands relieved weary muscles of built-up tension.

Yang kissed her wife's shoulder gently when she was finished, letting her lips linger against the warm skin. Her hands rested on the bump, and Blake placed her own hands over Yang's.

"I love you," Blake said, feeling Yang smile.

"I love you too," Yang whispered back, looking at their matching wedding rings and feeling truly complete.

* * *

Yang peered over the cot, seeing her newborn daughter sleeping peacefully for once. The first two weeks away from the hospital had been the worst for the crying, but Yang got up every single time to give Blake a rest, attending to the squalling bundle of joy whenever necessary, which turned out to be pretty much  _ all the time _ .

When Kira began to show signs of unsettling, Yang quickly picked her up, taking her from the bedroom to avoid waking Blake. She kissed her on the head, resting her cheek against the tuft of blonde hair that was growing more each day. Half her prediction had been right - she looked like Yang.

The sun was rising, its light filtering through the blinds into the living room, illuminating the floor and gleaming off of the remaining eye of Mister Bear, forgotten by Ellie as she’d grown older. She bounced the child in her arms as the cries began, singing a song by the should-have-retired-ten-years-ago artist Cinder Fall from the radio, trying anything to distract Kira from crying and waking her mother up.

"Yang, what are you doing?" Blake questioned from halfway down the stairs, though her tone was so flat it ceased to sound like a question.  _ Too late. _ Yang saw that Kira’s face looked similarly unamused, though the crying  _ had  _ stopped, in fairness.

"Uh…" she trailed, “singing her to sleep again?”. 

Blake simply shook her head and smirked, descending the rest of the stairs and taking her daughter away from Yang. “If you sing another Cinder Fall song to our child, I  _ will  _ divorce you and take everything.” She began to rock her back to sleep. It was something Yang tried not to be jealous of, how  _ easy  _ it seemed to be for Blake to settle their children down when all she wanted to do was take the stress away from her wife.

"Weiss is gonna give birth soon," Yang commented quietly, hovering over Blake’s shoulder and watching as Kira’s wide eyes opened and closed sleepily.

"I’d say we need to be around to see that, but I honestly don’t think we would survive," Blake replied, touching a tiny nose with her fingertip. 

"I think Ruby's gonna need more time in hospital than Weiss will when it's all over," Yang quipped, kissing Blake's cheek before the two fell into a content silence.

"By the way, Pyrrha said that Ellie called Jaune a 'fuckwit' the other day," Blake stated bluntly.

"Deserved it," Yang shot back quickly without thinking. She quickly amended this to: "I-I mean, I'll have a word with her. No idea where she picked that up from. Kids, huh?"

Blake rolled her eyes. “Yes, kids. Including you, apparently.”

* * *

Yang supposed that Blake was the stricter parent.

However, when Yang found out that Ellie had placed a bowl on her six-year-old sister's head and cut her hair, she had gone  _ ballistic _ .

It had happened in the kitchen: somehow Ellie had gotten ahold of a pair of scissors (Ellie was too much like Yang to be child-proofed from everything) and gone to town on Kira’s long blonde hair. Kira herself seemed disinterested, not caring in the slightest.

Blake was at work at the time, and Yang had no idea how to deal with the situation. She removed the bowl from Kira’s head and could have cried at the horrendous sight that was presented before her.

"What have you  _ done _ ?" She whispered as Ellie quietly sloped off toward the living room. She picked up a clump of golden hair, hands shaking, two seconds away from calling Blake, unable to cope. She was further dismayed when Blake got home; the woman’s only reaction was to burst into a rare bout of raucous laughter at her daughter's new look, daring not to glance at the child in case it set her off again. She made Yang a mug of tea to calm her down, taking Kira to the hairdresser to salvage what was a truly disastrous haircut, no matter which way you looked at it.

Yang later confiscated Ellie's gaming device in angry retaliation, ignoring the massive tantrum that followed with ease. She told her that ‘ _ every action has consequences, especially when it comes to cutting your sister's hair off because just  _ _ look _ _ at her,  _ _ look _ _ at what you've done to her beautiful hair!’ _

The joke was on her however when she played the console herself, perpetually stuck on the last level in whatever game was playing. Her thumbs gripped the device tightly, teeth gritted as Ellie smugly watched her mother struggle.

"Give me it, let me show you how it's done," Ellie demanded, snatching back the device before Yang could smash it to pieces with a hammer. Her smug look only lasted a few more minutes as she found that she too could not complete the level. Yang and Ellie were united once more, complaining in heated mutual agreement about how the game was  _ 'rigged' _ and was ' _ impossible to complete _ ', neither protesting when Blake took the game and began to play it.

"You totally won't do it," Yang said after a few minutes, allowing her daughter to snuggle into her side, sins forgotten. Blake simply smirked the same smirk that made Yang fall in love many years ago, causing her to blush unexpectedly. Kira sat at the end of the sofa reading, clearly uninterested in such plebeian competition.

Showing Yang and Ellie the victory screen of the game, Blake grinned wolfishly. Their faces fell.

"How did you do that?" Yang asked, feeling inadequate. "It was impossible!"

"Maybe you both suck," Blake responded, shrugging. "In that regard, it's probably genetic.  _ Burn _ ."

* * *

Yang stayed awake for a long time during the night, thinking of everything Blake had given her. She unconsciously squeezed her wife a little tighter, nuzzling the back of her neck and placing a light kiss there. Each day, Yang thanked the heavens for the twist of fate that gave her Blake Belladonna; she had a feeling her life wouldn't be half as happy without her.

A quiet knock at their door caught Yang’s ear and somehow woke Blake up - Yang theorised that she had the hearing of a cat sometimes.

“Mama?” The small voice said, door opening a crack and allowing light to pour in from the doorway.

Yang rubbed her eyes. “Kira? What’s up, Firecracker?”

Blake huffed a laugh as she sat up, the irony of such a nickname given to the mellowest kid in existence never lost on her.

“I had a nightmare,” Kira said, holding the arm of Mister Bear as he trailed on the floor next to her. Her gaze was focused on the cosy looking space between Blake and Yang, and hardly needed any more encouragement when Blake patted the duvet, taking a running jump to the bed and scrambling to sit between them.

“What happened?” Blake asked, running her fingertips through the jagged locks of blonde hair.  _ Apart from this haircut. _

“All my teeth fell out and everyone laughed at me,” the child explained, very matter-of-factly. “My teeth don’t feel wobbly, but Ellie said they will all fall out when I’m older, and I don’t want them to fall out.”

Yang sighed. “They won’t all fall out at the same time-”

Kira looked horrified. “So they  _ will  _ fall out?”

“You have two lots of teeth,” Blake said calmly, hugging Kira to her chest. “When you lose your baby teeth you’ll get some adult teeth.”

“Which means you’ll be a big girl then,” Yang finished. 

Kira frowned, as though unsatisfied with the answer but not pressing the issue. Yang observed Mister Bear, wondering how the poor thing had any of its stuffing left. She remembered fondly how Doctor Blake Belladonna MB had performed life-saving surgery to salvage his remaining eye with a very worried Kira looking on.

“Do you want to sleep in here tonight?” Blake asked, lifting the covers and letting the child scamper under them after a cursory nod.

A minute passed before Kira announced that she couldn’t sleep.

“Hmm, you want us to read you a story?” Yang asked, not particularly fond of the thought of leaving the toasty bed to retrieve a book.

Kira looked between Blake and Yang, toying with a question in her head before she verbalised it to Yang. "Will you tell me how you and Mom met? Was it like a fairytale?"

Yang chuckled, meeting Blake's twinkling eyes from across the pillows. "It was sort of a fairytale. Not the ones you're used to reading though," she said, pulling Kira into her side. 

"It all started when your Mom ordered a wardrobe…"

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How Blake and Yang met. Woo!

Thirty-one boxes.

That was the number of boxes it took to push Blake Belladonna into a pit of despair. She sat crossed legged on the floor of her new one-bedroom apartment in downtown Vale, her chin resting on an increasingly-numb hand, fingers drumming against her cheek.

_ Flat pack furniture is  _ _ so _ _ not the future, _ she thought despondently. Within those boxes was a wardrobe, supposedly; a huge classy thing with many different compartments and shelves, which was intended to take up an entire wall. Measuring everything up was the easy part, and designing it on the website had been a breeze. Shoe rack? Sure thing. Trouser rail? Of course. Laundry bags? You betcha. Anything that could have been added to the giant construction had been added, as her bank account could attest to. 

_ 'Seriously Blake, get yourself one from the internet, there's this website called FNKI dot com, _ ' her best friend Sun had said with a grin.  _ 'They do some real cool stuff. Flat pack furniture, it's the future, I'm telling ya!' _

_ If this is the future then I want no part of it. _ She wished she could step into the memory and smack that grin from his face. What Sun Wukong never took into consideration is that Blake lived alone with no one to assist her. It would have been easy for Sun and his long-term partner Neptune to throw up a wardrobe, and she would have demanded that they both come to her apartment immediately and build her own wardrobe, but the two men were on holiday in Vacuo until Monday, and she  _ really  _ needed these boxes gone.

She sighed in defeat.  _ Typical.  _

Her phone began to vibrate, breaking her from her self-pity session. Reluctantly tearing her gaze from the thirty-one boxes that seemed to be breeding more hellish cardboard by the second, she picked up the distraction and glanced at the screen.

"Hi Mom," she greeted, pushing herself from the floor and cringing as her muscles protested. Her back aligned with a satisfying click and she exhaled with relief.

"Hi baby," Kali Belladonna replied, the sound of food sizzling in the background confirming that it was time for their evening meal in Menagerie. "Just checking how you're settling in over in Vale," she explained.

Blake looked out of her own open window at the scorching morning, the summer sun filtering in and bringing the sound of children's laughter with it. "I'm doing fine, Mom," she responded, smiling wistfully. "The same as when you asked yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that-"

"I know, I know," Kali interrupted, giggling. "It's your father, mostly. He keeps nagging me to check in with you. I've told him we need to give you space, let you do your own thing, but you know what he's like."

"I do," Blake said, smiling with fondness when she heard Ghira protesting his innocence in the background. "And I really am fine. I promise."

"Good. Now how's life in the big city?"

"It's not the biggest city ever, it's only Vale," Blake commented, "hardly the size of Atlas."

"It's a good job it isn't, your father would have had kittens."

"In addition to the kittens he's already had over my move to Vale, you mean."

The quip led to another bout of laughter from Kali. "Really though," she said once the amusement had subsided. "Are you well? Do you need anything?"

Blake felt her shoulders slump as she looked back at those boxes. "I'm fine. Nothing you can help me with, unless you've found a way to assemble a wardrobe from a thousand miles away."

"I'd send your father over to help in a heartbeat, but he's terrible at DIY." Another protest sounded out from the man in question, and Kali hushed him with a home truth. "Need I remind you of the bed you assembled, dear? The one that fell apart on our anniversary night when we-"

"Don't finish that sentence,  _ please, _ " Blake demanded, eyes squeezed shut to block out the deadly imagery of her parents...  _ doing it _ . "It's fine," she continued, changing the subject back to the task at hand. "I'll just send it all back and get a rail or something for all my clothes."

Kali scoffed. "No need for such a thing, don’t be dramatic dear. Go on a Vale community group on Scrollbook and offer some lien for someone to assemble them for you. My friends do it all the time with things they can't do themselves."

"And let a total stranger into my apartment?" Blake asked, eyebrow raised. "Isn't that going against literally every stranger-danger lecture you gave me growing up?"

"Not everyone is out to harm you," Kali acquiesced, "some just want to earn an honest living. And you need a wardrobe. I'm not having my daughter live in an apartment that looks like a squat."

"They call that industrial-chic these days, get with the times, Mom."

"I don't care what they call it, you need a wardrobe. So get asking, otherwise I'll hire someone to do it for you. And don't you dare roll your eyes."

"I wasn't even rolling my eyes," Blake protested, fresh from the act of rolling said eyes. 

"I have to go now, honey," her Mom said, "dinner is ready and the next episode of that drama with Leonardo Lionheart is starting. You know how much I love him."

"Why? He's like… ancient," Blake said, "and also a tax evader."

"That's exactly what I said!" Ghira shouted in the background. "And he can't even maintain his beard properly, have you seen how patchy it is?"

"Oh shut up, both of you. And Blake, find someone to put your wardrobe up."

Her mom hung up, leaving the black-haired woman alone with the noise of birds chirping and the streets bustling. 

She had left Menagerie about two weeks ago, pursuing a job opportunity that took her away from the small town where her dad was the Mayor, from where her neighbours knew her name, and away from a population who lived a much more relaxed way of life. Blake already missed the island lifestyle, and missed her parents endlessly, but she knew it was a necessity to move forward if she really wanted to experience living.

She was following Sun, really. Both he and Blake had lived in Menagerie their entire lives, attending college there on the same physiotherapy course and dreaming of bigger things. Sun had gone to Vale a few years prior to Blake's arrival with the dream of opening his own clinic, which he managed to do after a long period of working two jobs and saving up the money for his own premises. He then hired Neptune to manage the financial aspects of his business, and the rest was history for the two men.

After Sun had gone, Blake had worked in Menagerie's only hospital, a small building with a constant flow of aches and pains to treat from an island whose economy was very reliant on manual labor. The two had kept in contact over the years, and when Sun asked her a couple of weeks ago to move to Vale and work with him, she'd jumped at the chance, eager to try something new.

Sitting in her apartment with only sparse amounts of furniture, several large piles of books, and thirty-one boxes of bullshit to her name, Blake was beginning to wonder if she'd made the right decision to pack up her life in Menagerie and leave.

"Ugh," she verbalised, flopping onto her bed and trying to shake off the negativity and loneliness. She picked up her phone and navigated to Scrollbook, searching for one of the groups her mother had referenced. 

There was a group entitled 'Behind The Vale', whose caption explained that any Vale resident was welcome to post about anything Vale-related. She scrolled through a few posts, seeing numerous advertisements for local businesses; restaurants touting their menus, coffee shop upstarts offering discounts on Tuesdays, individuals broadcasting the opportunity to work from home and earn thousands of lien a day, no doubt a pyramid scheme that would sucker more poor souls into a pit of debt.

Between the advertisements were various posts from users wanting to know the price of a metro ticket, or if anyone knew a trusted plumber to fix a very blocked toilet, complete with (disgusting) photos that threatened to make Blake retch, with the comments offering up many names of trusted traders.

She snapped a photo of her many boxes and tapped a request to join the group so she could post her own job. It only took the time it takes for her to make a cup of tea and settle on the beaten leather sofa for the admins to accept her. 

' **Wardrobe to assemble please, downtown Vale. Recommendations wanted.** '

"Pretty straight forward, to the point," Blake murmured to herself, blowing on her tea before taking a tentative sip. She hoped whoever would end up assembling the furniture would know what they were doing, it had been a big expense.

Within a few minutes the comments started rolling in. It was mostly people tagging others in the post, with no follow up. A couple of male users made reference to her gender and being useless, which made her scoff in disgust. The truth was, she probably could assemble the wardrobe herself with enough time and patience; however, those were two things she was sorely lacking in at the moment. She also didn't fancy the idea of being crushed under a large piece of wood should the entire thing fall on top of her. 

She pondered the perils of living alone, thinking of her rotting body pinned to the floor, only being discovered when her flesh goo finally seeped through her downstairs neighbour's ceiling.  _ I need to stop reading so much crime fiction. _ Luckily a comment caught her eye and dragged her from the disturbing thought. 

**Roman Torchwick: I can do this for five hundred lien, sweetheart.**

"Five hundred lien?" Blake asked in disbelief. "Is he crazy?" She had been expecting maybe between one to two-hundred lien for a hard day's work, which seemed more than fair. She clicked on his profile, eyes roving over his picture in which he wore a smirk and a bowler hat. Something about his face made Blake's skin crawl.  _ Yeah, no thanks.  _

She turned her attention to one of the comments on his offer, many calling him out as a well known scam artist, but pausing to laugh when she saw someone really nail him to the wall.

**Nora Valkyrie: Five hundred lien? Is it crack? Is that what you smoke? You look about 86lbs wet and like you've never held a hammer in your life. Blake, I have a friend who can do this for literally half the price, PM me!**

"Hmm, well I might as well," Blake said aloud, chuckling under her breath as she pulled open the messaging window. "Otherwise she might brutally call me out on social media too."

_ [Blake Belladonna]: Hi, you said to message you about your friend who could put the wardrobe up? _

_ [Nora Valkyrie]: Totally, they work for a property maintenance company, so it's the real deal. Said it can be done tomorrow for 150 lien? :) x _

Blake racked her brains. Tomorrow was Friday, and she had nothing planned. She started work on Monday when Sun was back from gallivanting with his boyfriend. Since he was her only friend in Vale and currently indisposed, it wasn't as though she was having to cancel any exciting plans. 

_ [Blake Belladonna]: Sounds great. My address is Apt 7, Goodwitch Buildings, Salem Street, 3102. _

_ [Nora Valkyrie]: Cool! Yang will be there about 11am if that's okay? Says the wardrobe will take a few hours :) x _

_ [Blake Belladonna]: Brilliant, sounds good to me. _

There were no more messages after that, and Blake felt a sense of relief that the stupid mountain of boxes would be gone after tomorrow, hopefully replaced by a majestic construct with sliding doors to house all of the clothes that were currently scrunched up on her bedroom floor. 

Unsure of what to do with herself now that her one task for the day had been completed, she peeled herself from the sofa and pulled on her boots. She would be a good host for this Yang person, and make sure he was well catered for. A trip to the store for some essentials beckoned.

* * *

"...and he's said five hundred lien to put up a friggin' wardrobe, can you believe that?" 

Yang looked up from her place on Nora's kitchen floor, screwing the last of a cabinet door hinge into place on her and Ren's new kitchen. "Five hundred lien? Seriously? I could do that for one-fifty, if that."

Nora cocked her head to the side. "Well, do you want me to offer your services?"

"I mean-"

"Great! I've asked her to private message me. And I totally called out that scam artist. Roman Torchwick? More like Lowlife Limp-Dick."

"Yeah he does sound-"

"Oh brilliant, you're going round tomorrow at eleven!" 

Yang sighed, shaking her head in amusement. Nora was like a tornado sometimes, you just couldn't fight it. "I actually had a job tomorrow morning to lay some flooring."

"So get one of the other guys to do it. Yatsuhashi still owes you a day's work, right? Or just get it done quickly. Trust me, you aren't gonna wanna miss out on this one!" Nora ended the sentence in a sing-song tone, indicating that she was teasing the blonde in some way.

Yang heaved her frame up from the floor, placing her screwdriver on the new countertop and dusting off her hands. "Oh yeah? Why's that?"

Nora smirked a filthy smirk, eyes narrowing with smug glee. "Because this customer is HOT!"

A phone screen was suddenly thrust in her face, and Yang had to take a step back to let her eyes focus. Nora had zoomed in on said customer's face, and admittedly, she was very hot from what she could see. "So you're setting me up whilst I'm on the job, huh?" Yang asked, elbowing the redhead. "Really unprofessional. I approve."

"I've forwarded you her address, make sure you look presentable," Nora berated, pinching Yang's cheek between her thumb and forefinger. 

Yang slapped away the offending hand, grinning. "I'm always presentable, thank you. Now tell me what you think of your new kitchen."

Nora hummed loudly, hands on her hips as she swiveled around to take the space in. "Very nice, very nice. I'd have gone with pink for everything, personally, but you know what Ren's like. He just loves his gray-scale!"

"Considering everything in your bedroom is already pink, I think he was allowed some input," Yang bantered, packing away the tools she'd used for the finishing touches. It had taken her and Yatsuhashi a few days to fit their new kitchen, and the blonde had returned alone on the final day to finish the job for her friend.

After a few minutes of saying goodbye, Yang finally escaped from Nora's house into the warm midmorning air, the heat threatening to become stifling later on. She threw her toolbag into the back of her van, hoisting herself into the driver's seat and immediately turning on the air conditioning. Switching on the radio, she sat back for a moment, smiling from reflex when the sound of Ruby's voice came through the speakers.

_ "...it's gonna be a hot hot hot one today, so make sure you're all hydrated and wear your sunscreen!"  _

Ruby's excitable timbre was immediately recognisable to pretty much every resident who listened to Semblance FM. She did the morning slot with her colleague Jaune Arc, who had become a close friend from their time working together.

_ "Don't forget to enter our competition,"  _ Jaune added,  _ "make this summer a good one with fifty-thousand lien in cold hard cash! All you need to do is enter on our website and answer the following question to be entered into the draw: Which singer won the award for Single of the Year at last night’s Vytal Sounds Awards? It’s really that easy, folks.” _

_ “And because we’re really nice, we’ll give you a hint,”  _ Ruby teased _ , “we’re playing her new single after this. Stick with us on eighty-nine point three, Semblance FM.” _

The advertisements followed, Yang still beaming with pride over hearing her baby sister’s voice on the radio. She sent a quick text to Ruby asking what the younger woman wanted for dinner that evening before starting the van and starting the journey to her next job.

_ “Constipation? Diarrhoea? If something’s not quite right with your bowels, Dr. Oz’s Special Formula will sort you out!” _

_ “When you’re in debt and your wife takes the kids, you can bank on Solitas Debt Management to get your finances - and life - back on track.” _

_ “Picture this. You, ten chicks, and the open road in a banging car. Winchester Motors; We’ll Get You There.” _

“Ten chicks in one car is totally illegal,” Yang commented, barely stifling a laugh. She eventually merged into the flowing daytime traffic on the main roads, nodding her head to Cinder Fall’s newest single fresh from her victory at the VSA’s. The blonde had stayed up most the night to watch it; she would be lying if she said she didn’t have a weakness for award shows and trash television.

_ “...and there you have it, Cinder Fall’s newest single that’s taking social media by storm, ‘Hungry’,”  _ Ruby spoke,  _ “we’re with you for the next four hours with the best music from the charts, so don’t go anywhere. Unless you’ve gotta work, in which case, go to work.” _

_ “Man, Cinder Fall is so cool, can you imagine being so loved?”  _ Jaune added, adoration clear in his voice. “ _ I bet she has people who fan her down with palm leaves. We’re not worthy.’ _

_ “Did you see her get up and accept the award though? She was so drunk she could barely walk!”  _ Ruby’s giggles filled the van, and Yang’s heart, with warmth. “ _ Now the next song has been requested by my sister. She’s dedicating it to me to celebrate one year of me being a presenter on Semblance FM. Thanks sis, love ya!” _ _   
_ _   
_ _ “And what a year it’s been,”  _ Jaune added,  _ “I used to be the favourite presenter around here. Well, I still am, but you’re catching up in popularity! Without further ado, here’s Coco Adel with ‘Crosshairs’, also known as Ruby’s favourite song right now. What. A. Tune.” _

Yang turned into the driveway of her next customer’s house, grabbing the job list that had been unceremoniously stuffed into the glovebox. Her mind shifted to tomorrow's off-the-record task in downtown Vale, and she couldn't help but smile. Easy money for an easy job, and helping out a beautiful woman. 

_ A win-win for everyone. _

* * *

The morning was already boiling hot, despite every window being open.

Blake flitted around her apartment, aligning the coasters on her coffee table to be perfectly parallel with the surface edge on three different occasions before giving up. She was full of nervous energy, just as she always was when faced with greeting strangers. She hated the unknown when it came to social interaction; the 'meeting somebody for the first time' stage was always the most awkward, and she wasn't looking forward to any small-talk. 

The kettle was full and ready to be boiled, she had a wide selection of biscuits, and the apartment cleaned top to bottom. If this wasn't the height of preparedness, then Blake didn't want to know what was. She didn't even eat biscuits, for goodness sake, so if this Yang didn't eat them then she’d be stuck with an entire cupboard full of sugary evil in plastic packets. 

Turning on the radio she heard the voice of radio presenter Ruby Rose filter into her kitchen. She smiled, feeling a bit more relaxed as the girl launched into a recap of the previous evening and a disastrous attempt at cooking by her sister. She never usually listened to the radio, preferring the freedom of her phone and own music taste, but the taxi driver had Semblance FM playing on the ride from the airport to her apartment, and Jaune and Ruby's friendly tones and open manner was enough to make her feel just a little less alone.

_ What if Yang doesn't like Semblance FM?  _ She turned off the radio, but then felt like it was too silent, and therefore awkward, before turning it on again.  _ Get a grip, Blake. He'll literally be here for a few hours, then you don't have to see him again. _

The sound of a door slamming from the street below shook her from her reverie, and she fought back every urge to bolt to the window and get a glimpse of this person she was so anxious of. She paced back and forth in the kitchen, flinching when the buzzer reverberated through her entire apartment. She waited a few seconds before finally unlocking the front door with a touch of the button, not wanting to appear as though she had been obsessively preparing for this for a solid three hours. 

It took barely a minute for a knock to sound out at her own front door. Her heart skipped as she gave it another three seconds before answering, opening the door just as the guest was about to knock a second time. This revealed that Yang was not a man as first assumed. In fact, as the heat rushing to Blake's face could testify, Yang was an extremely attractive young woman with long tied up hair and shoulders to die for. 

"Uh, hi, is it Blake?" 

Blake realised she was gawping when the blonde cocked her head slightly, probably wondering if this odd woman was a mute. "Yes, that's me. Please come in." She cringed inwardly, cursing the fact that she had practiced her greeting in her head at least eight times prior to Yang's arrival and it still hadn't gone to plan.

Yang stepped in from the hallway, head craning to take in the incredibly spartan apartment. Blake felt a little self conscious at her lack of furniture and personal touches, but there wasn't much she could do about that until she got paid. 

"This is a nice place you've got," Yang complimented with a friendly grin. "Have you just moved here?"

Blake rolled her eyes, smiling. "Is it that obvious? I showed my mom a picture of the living room the other night and she genuinely cried because I had no TV."

"You haven't had a TV for more than twenty-four hours? You'll make  _ me _ cry in a minute."

"Oh it's not so bad. I read a lot, as you can tell." Blake motioned to one of the many stalagmites of books stacked in the far corner of her living room. "I've always preferred listening to music than watching TV, and since I moved I've been listening to the radio a lot."

Yang paused for a second, raising a finger in the air as she listened to the soft sounds of talking coming from Blake’s stereo system. “Semblance FM?” She asked, corners of her mouth upturning. “Great taste, I love that station.”

“Ruby and Jaune are really relaxing to listen to, I love their stories,” Blake said, congratulating herself on the choice to leave the radio on. “The music isn’t to my taste, but it makes the apartment feel a little less empty.”

“Does that Cinder Fall song get on your nerves too?” Yang asked, her grip flexing on a toolbox Blake only just noticed she was holding.

“I think it takes a special type of person to be able to listen to that song more than three times in an hour. I’m just not that person,” Blake quipped, trying to not let her gaze linger on those toned arms, perfectly revealed by a white tank top that clung to Yang’s frame in all the right places. “The bedroom’s through this way,” she said, heading to the room in question.

Yang whistled when she saw the boxes all piled up. “Another FNKI victim, huh?” 

“Unfortunately. My friend recommended the website, I might kill him when I next see him.” Blake scratched her arm absently, thinking of ways she could exact revenge on the man.

“Well, I ain’t complaining,” the blonde commented jovially, placing her toolbox on the wooden floor. “Keeps me in a job after all. Sorry if I’m kinda sweaty, I was working somewhere else before this.”

When the blonde walked to the boxes and the sunlight hit her body it was as though time slowed down. Blake’s heart juddered as the rays highlighted Yang’s hair and painted her silhouette in a glorious glow, any bare skin that the eye could see glistening in the light. She watched Yang’s forearm muscles twitch beneath the surface as she tried to prise open a box with her bare hands before accepting defeat and retrieving her box cutter.

“I hate these things,” Yang said, blade sliding through the glue that held one flap down. “It's probably the hardest part of putting these things together. If I come out of here with no cuts on my hands I'll be amazed."

"Well I'm sure I can patch you up if you hurt yourself," Blake said, the words coming out of nowhere as the filter between her brain and mouth firmly switched itself off.  _ What on Remnant am I saying?  _

It was almost worth the risk purely for the blush on Yang's face, accompanied by wide lilac eyes. 

"Uh… I'll be sure to keep that in mind," the blonde said after a beat with a smile, scratching the top of her head and focusing her attention back to her task at hand.

_ Great, now you've made her feel awkward,  _ Blake chastised herself, fighting the urge to slap her own forehead. "If you need anything just let me know," she said, hightailing it out of the bedroom with nary a look back.  _ Too awkward _ . 

She placed herself down carefully on her sofa, retrieving a book that was placed behind one of the cushions for safekeeping. All she had to do was never enter her bedroom again until Yang left, only seeing the blonde when she had to pay up. It should have been easy enough; Blake was used to closing her mind to the world around her when she had her nose in a good book. However, her ears could not stop picking up on the soft sounds of Yang humming along to the radio, the woman’s image seemingly seared into her memory from their short conversation.

Her mother’s voice reminding her to ‘ _ meet a nice partner and not die alone’ _ rang helpfully through her head. Well, she could probably strike Yang off the list of potential partners after sticking her foot in it, not that she was thinking about that possibility or anything. Not at all. Trying to slow her racing mind, she focused again on her book, amber eyes pacing left to right as she devoured the words on the page, their meanings not quite reaching her very distracted brain.

_ “...this next song is the perfect soundtrack to a beautiful summer romance, so if you’ve got your eye on that special someone, I’ve got some advice. Do what I do, and don’t even bother. They probably aren't who they say they are and you'll spare yourself the pain. Works every time.” _

_ “Wow, that was... kinda depressing. Don’t listen to him guys, there’s someone for all of us out there, even you, Jaune. Anyways, here’s the new one from Oscar Pine, ‘In the Rosegarden’. Tell that special someone how you feel!" _

Blake felt slightly jealous of the people who could relate to the sappy love songs that endlessly permeated the airwaves. She'd dated sporadically during college, but nothing serious had sprung from those short lived relationships. In some respects, she supposed she was glad; long distance would never work for her, and she hadn't needed to go through with any extremely painful breakups.

"Hey Blake!" Yang called from the bedroom, breaking the woman from her reverie. 

Like a moth drawn to a flame, Blake was immediately up on her feet and stood in the doorway, waiting for Yang's next words.

"Do you have a picture of what your wardrobe is supposed to look like? I don't want to build it wrong and have shelves where you don't want them or anything." Yang had started the process of unpacking all the components, countless parts stacked up in large piles around her. Empty boxes had been flattened and slugged over the makeshift prison of flat-pack onto Blake's bed. Blake couldn't even recognise her bedroom anymore. As though reading her mind, Yang smiled sheepishly. "It looks really bad right now, doesn't it?"

"Just a bit," Blake agreed, fishing her phone from her pocket. She scrolled through her gallery (consisting mostly of the cats she had befriended on her travels) before finding a screenshot of what the finished product was supposed to look like. 

Yang leaned easily over her shoulder to see the picture, and Blake could feel the heat radiating from the other woman. It seeped into her skin and kick-started her heart into a rapid rhythm. A part of her wanted to just sink back against the blonde's tall frame, just to see what would happen, but the other part rightfully screamed  _ don't be an idiot, Blake _ , and won the battle. 

"Oh wow," Yang said softly, "that's really cool, it'll suit your room so well."

"Thank you," Blake said, her voice threatening to crack as her tongue seemed to grow three sizes larger in her mouth. "I spent hours on it, I think I rearranged things three times over before I was happy."

"You did a great job," Yang complimented, moving away from Blake to survey the logical mess she had made. The blonde frowned for a moment, as though thinking something over, before returning her gaze to the other woman. "Would you mind sending me that picture? It's probably gonna get annoying if I keep calling for you every ten minutes to make sure I'm on the right track."

Blake stifled a snort. Yang had nothing to worry about on that front; she'd be quite content to sit on the bed and watch her go about constructing this wardrobe all day, alas, that would be simply perverted, and Blake Belladonna was  _ not  _ a pervert, thank you very much. 

She looked down at her phone for a moment, opening her messaging app. "No problem, what's your number?"

Instead of replying, Yang plucked the phone gently from her grip. Usually, such an action would incense Blake, a total violation of her privacy and personal space. However, Yang seemed to pass through every other barrier she liked to throw up against strangers, and this was no different. She watched as experienced hands tapped in a new contact, and she couldn't help but imagine how her own hands would feel in their clasp. Would Yang's touch be calloused and rough from the rigours of her daily grind? Or surprisingly soft, perhaps from a religious skincare routine? Either way, from the gentle smile that accompanied Yang's expression as she handed back her phone, Blake could already imagine that the blonde would be tender and careful.

"Sorry, I'm just never good with remembering my number when I have to say it out loud," Yang explained, "I always get a digit wrong when I'm under pressure."

"Dancing woman emoji, huh?" Blake asked playfully, seeing that Yang had saved her name with said emoji displayed proudly next to it. 

Yang shrugged. "I like to think it represents me best. You don't know me until you've seen me throw some shapes." 

"Throw some shapes? You sound like my dad," Blake teased, feeling for the first time that she was on equal conversational footing with the other woman, which was rather liberating.

"In that case, he sounds like a man I can respect."

"He'd appreciate that. He gets walked all over by all the women in his life, but mostly his wife."

Yang threw her head back and laughed, a sound that Blake drank in and couldn't get enough of. "Poor man, I know exactly how he feels."

Blake felt like she'd been doused with cold water.  _ Of course Yang would be taken, she's too good not to be.  _ Her mood had immediately plummeted with that reply, and she tried to cheer up by reminding herself that she never stood a chance anyway. Her eyes quickly scanned the woman's ring finger, seeing it bare.  _ Probably took it off for work, or just dating someone.  _

"I should probably let you get back to work," she said with a tight smile, feeling humiliated despite nothing having actually happened. She turned as quickly as she could, unaware of Yang's disappointed expression that followed her out the door.

* * *

Yang was thinking hard as she worked, combing through the words that had been said before Blake had turned on her heel and retreated to the living room. She couldn't think of anything amiss with their banter, so why had Blake given her the cold shoulder so suddenly?

_ Maybe she's just busy,  _ she reasoned, though from what she could tell from a cursory peek out into the living room, the girl in question was curled up with a book in her hands.  _ Or maybe she'd prefer reading a book than talking to the total stranger who's getting paid to put up a wardrobe.  _

Realising she was staring off into space rather than working, she tore her thoughts away from the attractive woman and her beautiful golden eyes, focusing again on her job. The outer frame had been assembled which had taken a bit of work considering it was usually a job for two, but she'd managed. Now was the tedious job of putting together the countless drawers and fitting the shelves; time seemed to go much slower when all she had to occupy herself was obsessing over Blake and the sound of the radio.

"It's looking good." 

Speak of the incredibly hot devil and it shall appear. Yang looked up from her task to see Blake standing in the doorway, appraising her handiwork. The raven-haired girl was holding a bottle of water in her hand with a shy smile, the glass still fogged from the fridge. It was then that Yang realised how thirsty she really was _. _

"I thought you could do with a drink, you've been holed up in here for a few hours now," Blake explained, offering Yang the bottle, which was taken gratefully. The thoughtfulness of the gesture made her blush, and she hoped she could play it off as from the heat.

"Thanks," the blonde said, unscrewing the cap. "Sometimes I get on a roll and forget that I actually need to drink to stay alive."

"How inconvenient."

"Tell me about it."

It was then that Yang was aware of just how gross and sweaty she felt. The day was a scorcher, and although the floor fan was oscillating back and forth trying valiantly to fight off the heat, it was failing miserably as the sun continued to blaze mercilessly through the window. 

"The owners of the building were meant to have the air con sorted by the end of last week," Blake explained, as though she had peered into Yang's thoughts. "Sorry about that."

"Hey don't apologise," Yang said with a shrug. "You should have seen my old apartment, it was like a shoebox that even fleas wouldn't live in."

"Wow, to be the bottom rung of the ladder of flea real-estate. Times must've been tough." 

"When my family first moved to Vale we barely had a penny to our names, but we made it work. No fleas in sight these days, but for the right reasons," Yang jested with a wink, placing the half-empty bottle of water on one of the completed shelves. 

Blake chuckled. “That reminds me of my friend actually. He worked every hour he could when he got here, and now he’s got his own physiotherapy studio a few blocks away. I’m lucky he took me on.”

“Oh, you’re a physiotherapist? I bet you’re good with your hands.” The words weren’t intended to come out quite as flirty as they sounded, or meant to come out at all in fact. However, being around Blake seemed to make Yang feel increasingly drunk, and was dissolving her filters accordingly.

The blush that crawled up Blake’s neck and into her cheeks was obvious for all to see. Just as she opened her mouth to retort, the radio seemed to blare to life, filling the heavy silence with Ruby’s voice.

_ “...and hopefully we will see you all at our first ever Semblance FM Summer Barbeque Extravaganza in Vale Central Park this weekend. There’s no tickets required and it’s completely free, so really you all have no excuse to not come. We need you there, otherwise it’ll just be me and Jaune, and that would just be awkward.” _

_ “It’s gonna be a whole load of fun, we’ll be bringing the best music, performances from local bands, and there’ll be tons of stuff to suit the whole family. And don’t forget, we have a mystery guest gracing our stage, which I promise you will not want to miss. So wheel out Grandma for her annual breath of fresh air and get yourselves down to Vale Central Park,”  _ Jaune added excitedly.

Blake chuckled at Jaune's comment. "It's kind of nice that they put on these events."

"Are you going?" Yang blurted out, busying herself with the cap of her water in an attempt to appear nonchalant and failing miserably. 

"I don't really know anyone here," Blake admitted, "it'd be pretty weird to wander around on my own. Maybe next year if they do it again, when I hopefully know a few more people."

Yang tried not to let her disappointment show on her face. "Oh, that's cool, makes sense." She desperately wanted to invite Blake to go along with her, even just as a friend, but didn't know if she was overstepping her boundaries. They'd only known each other for a few hours, and maybe the context would make it odd.  _ I swear asking girls out was never this hard. Have I been out of the game that long?  _

"Are you going?" Blake asked, arms hugging around her own body almost shyly. The blonde felt like she might explode from the cuteness of it all.

"Yeah, I'll be there. I like anything that involves music, the outdoors, and eating my body weight in free food." The next words pushed at her throat, chipping away at hesitation and nervousness until they entered the space between them. "Would you like to come? With me?"

Blake looked panicked for a second, making Yang's chest tighten with the need to elaborate.

"I-I mean, me and my family, a-and some of our friends. It'd give you a chance to meet some people, and enjoy the sun without being boiled alive without aircon." She saw Blake's expression soften. "You can leave at any time," she added, to sweeten the deal. "And I promise I'm not an axe murderer."

Blake squinted in faux suspicion. "Sounds like something an axe murderer would say."

Yang laughed. "More of a hammer girl myself," she jested, holding up the tool in question and feeling elated when Blake rolled her eyes with a small smile. To truly put the ball in Blake's court, she added: "How about this; if you wanna go, I'll meet you there. No obligation or anything. If you're bored and want to get out, go to the park and text me, I'll come find you. I'll keep you safe, don't worry."

* * *

_ I'll keep you safe, don't worry. _

The words reverberated around Blake's head, and had done for hours. Though they were said jokingly, she couldn't stop repeating them to herself. The clock read one-fifty in the morning, the street lamp outside filtering it's glow through her window. She'd forgotten to close the blinds, but was too lost in thought to be bothered. 

She truly appreciated how Yang has given her the agency to make the decision to meet up tomorrow or not. It was as though she'd picked up on Blake's wavelength and stripped back her layers, seeing that at her core she was incredibly introverted. It was something a lot of people never bothered doing, instead pushing for her to  _ 'get out of her comfort zone' _ , or ' _ fake it til you make it.'  _ The clichéd self-help phrases got old quickly, and only succeeded in doing the opposite, so Yang's approach was a breath of fresh air.

Her heart said yes, but her head screamed a resounding  _ no, _ not only anxious in general at spending more time around the intoxicating woman without the comfort of her home surroundings, but also apprehensive of meeting the blonde's family. Did she really want to meet up with Yang's significant other, and children, if she had any? All she had wanted to do throughout the day was be close to the other woman and do things that her family would certainly _ not  _ approve of.

She reclined against her headboard, eyes blankly staring at the newly-erected wardrobe that Yang had left her with. It looked fantastic, and she'd told the blonde so when the job had been completed, and Yang had even taken away all the box carcasses for her. What Blake had neglected to do was pay Yang for her services. _ To be fair, she didn't remind me, _ she justified, knowing it was a weak excuse for forgetting the entire reason why Yang had been there all day.

Going to the Semblance FM Summer Extrava-whatever would be the perfect excuse to give Yang the payment she was owed, whilst also satisfying her own tormented curiosity to see just what lucky soul got to call that ray of sunshine their partner. Jealousy licked under her skin, her face contorting into a scowl. She had spent so long being single that she’d forgotten just how intoxicating fantasies could be. Reading romance novels was both a blessing and a curse, and she squeezed her eyes shut to fight off images of Yang sweeping her off her feet.

_ Stop setting yourself up to get hurt,  _ she chided, sliding down the bed under the covers before curling into a tight ball. Crushes sucked, and she undoubtedly had a one-way train to Disappointment Town coming up, but she may as well try and get some sleep for when she saw the blonde again later, if only to look slightly less like a ghost when the morning came.

She blinked, and suddenly her alarm was blaring from the nightstand next to her.  _ Eight in the morning? Already?  _ Her arm slapped around for a moment, eventually locating the snooze button and smacking it firmly with an outstretched palm.

Today was the day of reckoning. Or, in non-dramatic terms, the day she would be seeing Yang again. Pulling the covers over her face, she groaned inwardly, a million questions flying through her head, like what would she wear? Did she need to take anything? Would Yang be annoyed she hadn’t been paid for a full day’s work? Everything was piling up on her, making the prospect of living the rest of her weekend in bed all the more appealing.

Unfortunately, her phone had other ideas, the device vibrating like a jackhammer on the other nightstand. She rolled over frustratedly, ripping the charger out of the phone and squinting at the screen.  _ Why is Sun texting me? And why does he have to send each thought as a separate text? _

_ [Sun Wukong]: Blakey Blakey, good morning! _

_ [Sun Wukong]: Rise and shine _

_ [Sun Wukong]: Can’t believe we’re flying home tomorrow. Sucks to be us! _

_ [Sun Wukong]: Did you settle in okay? I’m sorry we weren’t around to help _

One day Blake would convince him to drop his annoying habit of texting his stream of consciousness, but that battle could wait for another time. She had more pressing matters, and perhaps Sun could help. He was confident, after all, nothing and nobody ever phased him. Maybe he would be able to give her some direction.

_ [Blake Belladonna]: Good morning. I’m glad to hear that you haven’t overdosed on cheap alcohol and saturated fats from your diet of free cocktails and questionable foodstuff. _

_ [Sun Wukong]: Ah, you saw my Scrollbook posts then _

_ [Sun Wukong]: Don’t worry your pretty little head, these abs are still washboard-certifiable ;) _

_ [Blake Belladonna]: Thank Heavens, the thought of your glorious abdominals going AWOL has kept me up at night.  _

_ [Sun Wukong]: I always knew you had the hots for me and my abs, I’m glad you’re in a place where you can finally admit it _

_ [Sun Wukong]: But seriously, I am sorry. _

_ [Sun Wukong]: For not helping you move, I mean _

Blake snickered. Given the choice of assisting with the moving of countless books and boxes or going on a sun-drenched holiday with no worries in the world, she was hardly surprised he wasn’t around to help, nor did she hold it against him. The moving company she had hired only broke five of her things, after all. Sun would have destroyed at least fifteen.

_ [Blake Belladonna]: That’s okay, I’m glad you’ve had a nice break, you’ve definitely earned it. You should be more sorry for talking me into ordering a FNKI wardrobe and not building it for me.  _

_ [Sun Wukong]: It's the first thing I'll do when I'm back, promise _

_ [Blake Belladonna]: Too late, I got someone in to do it for me. _

She inhaled for a moment to collect her thoughts; as soon as she asked Sun for his help, she would probably be teased mercilessly for having a massive crush on someone she'd only met once.

_ [Blake Belladonna]: But I do need your help with something else. _

_ [Sun Wukong]: Anything, you know that _

_ [Blake Belladonna]: I'm attracted to someone and I don't know what to do. _

As expected, her phone rang almost immediately.

"She has a crush!" Sun sang, "Finally! How long has it been since you were with someone? Who was your last hot fling, Ilia?”

Blake rolled her eyes, smiling nonetheless. She really had missed hearing a friendly voice that wasn’t her Mom’s. “It wasn’t a  _ hot fling _ , it was a bit more than that. But yes, it was Ilia.”

“Jeez Blake, how are you not constantly dripping with sexual frustration?”

“First of all, gross, can you never use that phrase ever again, starting from now? And secondly, I’m looking for something serious. I’m not the type to just have no strings attached, you know that.”

Sun laughed. “Alright, I promise, I’ll never say it again. Felt weird even for me. And I know you’re a one-person kinda gal.” There was the sound of splashing and laughter in the background, and Blake could only assume he was lounging poolside, beverage in hand without a worry in the world as he soaked up the last of his holiday. There was a loud slurp signalling he had finished his drink before he continued: “Okay, talk me through what’s happened. As your wingman, I’ll tell you everything you need to get this lucky guy or gal.”   


“Gal,” Blake confirmed, dragging herself out of bed and into the bathroom. Considering she hadn’t had much sleep, she didn’t look half bad. At least the dark circles under her eyes weren’t totally uncoverable. “And I think she’s taken. I’m not a homewrecker.”

“Whoa whoa, hold up,” the blond ordered, “start from the beginning, how’d you meet her?”

Putting him on loudspeaker and placing her phone on the sink, she turned on the shower, waiting for the water to be bearable. “Well… she’s the one who put up the wardrobe.”

“No kidding! Since I recommended the FNKI website, I think I can take some wingman credit on that one.”   


“If that’s the case then you can pay me the one-hundred and fifty lien I now owe her.”

“Does your lover want that in cash, card, or cheque?”

“Shut up, idiot.” Sun’s laughter chimed down the line, Blake suppressing her own giggles. Without her best friend, she’d have been totally lost. “Let me shower and then I’ll tell you the whole story.”

“Don’t miss out any of the gory details, the Love Guru needs a full debrief of the facts before he can dish out any expertise.”

As promised, once she had cleaned off and applied a small amount of makeup, Blake rang Sun once more and told him the entire story.

“So let me get this straight: she invited you to Vale Central Park to hang out at this event, even let you choose whether you wanted to or not to make you feel more comfortable, and you  _ still _ don’t think she digs you?”

“She said she was there with her family,” Blake protested, the smell of her toast burning assaulting her nose as she vaulted into the kitchen to save it. 

Sun sighed. “Family could mean anything, Blake. Don’t not go just because she said that. Besides, even if she does have a wife and two-point-five kids, it doesn’t mean you can’t just have fun today and never speak again after that.”

“I know,” Blake acquiesced, forlornly looking at her charred toast. “I’m just not very good at this sort of thing. I doubt I’m what she’d look for when choosing a partner, she’s so easygoing and confident.”

“I’m not having that,” Sun said softly, “you’re a real catch, you know that? You’re beautiful, you’re witty, you’re the best, Blake. Just go today and see what happens. That’s all you’ve gotta do.”

Blake smiled, wishing she could express just how grateful she was for his friendship. “Thanks Sun, it means a lot.”

“Yeah, yeah, just make sure you’re at work on Monday. Too much sex isn’t an excuse for a sick day.”

Blake hung up on that comment.

* * *

"Thanks for helping us set up, Yang, I really appreciate it," Ruby said, assisting the sound technicians with assembling the complex tangle of wires for her and Jaune's booth in Vale Central Park.

"No worries, sis, glad to be of service," Yang replied whilst untangling cables. The morning was crisp thanks to the early hour; as soon as the sun rose, so did Ruby and Yang, the pair heading down to the park to assist in the preparation for Semblance FM's big day. In truth, she'd hardly slept, too busy thinking about a certain raven-haired individual who seemed to invade her thoughts at every turn. 

Ruby squinted at her in suspicion. "You're never usually this awake in the mornings. You're just hoping to see that girl from Scrollbook aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged." Yang sighed, knowing it was futile to deny it when she'd already told her sister the entire story the night before. "I just don't want her to think I was some sort of creep asking her out like that."

"You're probably worrying about nothing," the brunette assured distractedly, frowning as she tapped on her laptop, something seemingly not working. "She'll turn up, I'm sure of it. Where's Jaune? He said he'd be here already."

Yang snorted. "Probably crying over being catfished on the internet again."

"Don't be mean," Ruby chided, "it's only happened twice… um… three times. Besides, he's talking to someone new now, apparently she lives in Mistral."

"Ooh, a long distance catfish this time," the blonde chirped, "changing it up, I approve."

"Hey, shut it!" The man himself had finally arrived, letting out a huge yawn, black circles under his eyes.

"Wow Jaune, you look hideous," Yang jibed, knowing her fellow blond would know she was joking. "Don't tell me you really were up crying all last night."

"For your information, I was video chatting with my  _ very _ real friend in Mistral until the early hours."

"Showing her Jaune's Jewels already? You little scamp," Yang said, revelling in the indignant blush rushing to Jaune's cheeks.

"Actually, we're just  _ friends _ , it is possible y'know." He sounded slightly disappointed by his own statement, so Yang didn't push the topic.

"What's her name again?" Ruby asked, still trying to figure out why her laptop wasn't connecting to a system of large speakers. 

"Pyrrha," he said dreamily. "She seems really nice, it's weird, it's like she wants to actually get to know me."

"Instead of just asking you to send her money? That's progress," Yang retorted, finally succeeding in untangling the cables. "Are you gonna meet her then?"

"It's early days," Jaune said with a shrug. "We'll see."

"I hope it works out for you this time," Ruby said, finally looking up from her task with a genuine smile. "You're a great guy, Jaune."

He scratched the back of his head bashfully. "Thanks Ruby." He glanced over to the various vendors setting up food stands and amusements. "I think I’m gonna go help them out, sorry I was late guys." His tall frame ambled off to make itself useful, assisting an elderly gentleman to assemble his ring toss stall.

“He is a good guy,” Yang commented in all seriousness. 

“I knew you liked him really,” Ruby responded, fist pumping when her laptop finally connected, the speakers next to Yang blaring out a noise that knocked her for six.

“Jeez Rubes,” the blonde complained, rubbing her ringing ears. “Bit of warning next time maybe?”

“Oops, sorry!” The sound of her phone chiming distracted Ruby from elaborating on her apology. “Ooh, Dad says he’s on his way with Zwei. I’m so happy that he could make it.”

Their father, Taiyang Xiao Long, once owned the company that Yang worked for, but sold it on after the death of his wife, Summer. He moved back to the island of Patch where Yang and Ruby had grown up, the man wanting to return to his roots after his own world was ripped apart by a cruel illness. The girls still saw him whenever they could, and always returned to the family home in the holidays to ensure that he wasn’t alone, despite his proud protests that he was doing just fine.

“It’s a big day for you, wasn’t this all your idea?” Yang asked, gesturing to the large open field which was beginning to fill more with the sound of people with each passing minute.

“Yeah, which is why I’m so nervous about it,” Ruby confided, shoulders drooping uncharacteristically. “What if nobody turns up and it’s a big failure?”

The blonde looped an arm around her sister. “Don’t be dumb, sis. This thing has been advertised  _ everywhere _ , everyone’s talking about it. We’re a few hours away from the opening time; would you be awake at eight in the morning at the weekend if you didn’t have to be?”

“I guess…” Ruby didn’t look too convinced, but Yang didn’t worry too much. She knew that Ruby’s doubts would be laid to rest later on when half of Vale came to enjoy the outdoor event. 

Although Ruby had just celebrated her first year of being one of Semblance FM’s main voices, she had worked at the station for much longer than that. Forgoing college education, she landed an apprenticeship with the station when she was eighteen years old as a sound technician, shadowing until she was taken on full time, which had been a total accident. 

Jaune's former partner on the breakfast show hadn't turned up after a particularly raucous Vytal Music Awards after-party, too hungover to even contemplate waking up for the morning slot but not bothering to notify the station manager of this fact before the show went on-air. It turned out that unless he had someone to bounce off, Jaune was kind of awkward. Yang recalled the day well, she and thousands of other listeners cringing at Jaune’s endless stammering, the station manager no doubt pinning him with a furious glare over something that wasn’t the poor man’s fault. 

Then Ruby’s nervous tones had filled the heavy silences between songs, cautiously introducing herself to the people of Vale, and they welcomed her with open arms. Yang had been flummoxed, the sensation of hearing someone you knew on the airwaves completely foreign and odd, but as Ruby and Jaune began to fall into a natural rhythm, she’d been filled with happiness.

And the rest, as they say, was history.

“Hey Yang, are you still awake?” Ruby teased, dragging the blonde back into the present day. “Dad said he’s here now, we need to go meet him.”

“Oh, sorry sis,” Yang said, shaking her head out of her thoughts. She checked her phone, heart dropping slightly at the lack of messages from a certain someone, before sliding the device back into the pocket of her jeans. 

Maybe Blake wasn’t coming after all. 

Maybe the thought shouldn’t have disappointed her quite as much as it did.

* * *

The park was bustling with activity. People of all ages milled around, children chasing each other through the obstacle of parents’ legs, dogs allowed to roam freely off their leashes, greeting one another with a series of curious sniffs.

It appeared as though everybody knew somebody, and Blake felt horribly left out. Her phone felt heavy in her hand as she wandered around, the pulsating beat of music ever present with each footstep. The smell of fried food assaulted her nostrils and her stomach roiled, already quivering from the nerves coursing through her body. The last thing it needed was the odour of a deep fried anything-the-vendor-could-get-his-hands-on added to the mix.

She lifted her phone, thumb hovering above Yang’s contact. 

A massive part of her was just begging to head back home and sit in her threadbare apartment, the prospect of returning to her comfort zone unbelievably inviting. However, the small voice in the back of her mind yelled at her to just send the text and throw caution to the wind; after all, hadn’t she felt elated to be in Yang’s company? Sure, it was terrifying to be talking to someone that was incredibly attractive, but when was the last time she’d felt so exhilarated?

_ [Blake Belladonna]: I'm here. _

She breathed a sigh of relief.  _ Done.  _ Now the onus was on Yang, the weight of responsibility removed from her sagging shoulders. As the minutes ticked by, she felt her pulse quickening. Why was Yang not replying? Had she changed her mind? Had her partner found out and the two had a massive bust-up, leading to the blonde not coming altogether and deleting Blake from her phone?

Her phone buzzing in her hand disturbed her endless conjecturing.

_ [Yang Xiao Long]: cool :) where u @? _

She fought the urge to pinch her nose. Every person had their flaws, Yang's was simply butchering basic language concepts for the benefit of not typing an extra few letters. If that was her biggest flaw, then Blake would let it slide, even if she was eroding the integrity of the written word with each text message.

_ [Blake Belladonna]: Near the south entrance to the park. There's a large hairy man sunbathing on a neon pink towel, if that helps. _

_ [Yang Xiao Long]: thats no way to spk abt me lol ;) hang tight x _

Blake barked out a laugh before focusing on that final 'x'. Though it meant nothing, the affectionate footnote made the raven-haired girl blush, hand twirling shyly with a tendril of her loose hair as she bit her lip.

"Hey Blake!" The voice was bright, bubbly, and undoubtedly Yang's. "Glad you came!"

Blake spun on her heel, smiling involuntarily as she clapped eyes on the tall blonde. Today Yang was wearing a black and yellow plaid shirt with what looked like a white vest underneath, and denim shorts cut off mid-thigh, though Blake tried not to let her gaze linger.

"Hey," she greeted with a small smile of her own. "Today's your lucky day, I almost turned back round when I heard they were playing Cinder Fall’s song again."

Yang laughed, Blake soaking up the sound. "Yeah, I don't think Ruby and Jaune get much choice over the station playlist. Kinda sucks, but I guess Cinder Fall has tons of fans."

"Somehow," Blake remarked, lifting an eyebrow. "Didn't she fall off the stage at an award show?"

"Yeah, it was great," Yang said with a giggle before her face dropped. "Uh, not that I watched it live or anything… just saw it online and stuff."

"Sure," Blake said, deadpan with a teasing grin. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Knew I could trust you. Come on, we're just over here."

Blake followed Yang obediently through the throngs of people and picnic blankets, heart thudding in her chest and forming a lump in her throat she had to periodically swallow down. Would Yang's family be nice? Would they like her, make attempts to include her? The thoughts were almost overwhelming, but were rudely interrupted by a ball of black and white fluff charging at her.

"Zwei, no!" She heard a yell from a man sound out before she was crashing to the grass in a heap, two paws pinning her down by her shoulders, the dog yipping happily and panting all over Blake's face.

"Aw jeez, Zwei, get off her!" Yang grabbed the overexcited pup and pulled it away, thrusting it towards a tall muscular blonde man who took the dog, paws wagging, and clipped a lead to its collar. Yang extended a hand to help Blake stand, which was gratefully taken. “I’m so sorry!” She pleaded, dropping Blake’s hand after a beat. Blake resisted the urge to stare at her own hand, skin tingling from their contact.

“It’s alright,” she said, trying to smooth away the frown from the blonde’s face. “I’m guessing he’s yours?”

“Nah, he’s my dad’s,” Yang said, gesturing to the tall man. “Speaking of which, this is my dad, Tai. Dad, this is Blake.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Blake spoke, raising an arm slightly in greeting as her eyes met Tai’s blue ones. 

“Likewise,” Tai replied, patting Zwei on the head. “Sorry about this one, he gets a bit overenthusiastic around strangers. He nudged Yang in the side. “Kinda like this one, really.”

Yang shoved him, causing the man to lose balance and stumble. “Shut up, Dad!”

"No way to speak to your old man, kid," Tai joked with a wink. "Anyway, there's a woman near the high striker who's looking to be impressed by my guns. Enjoy yourself, Yang." 

He walked off, Zwei in tow. Before Blake could analyse the exchange, they were interrupted by the appearance of another girl, her hair brunette with red highlights.

“Oh hey Rubes,” Yang said, slinging an arm around the newcomer’s shoulder. “This is Blake.”

Blake watched the interaction, slightly jealous of the other woman. She assumed this was Yang’s partner from the ease of the action, heart dropping accordingly. “Hi,” she said nonetheless, hoping her face wasn’t giving away the game.

“Hey Blake, I’m Ruby!” The voice was familiar, and Blake immediately knew this was Ruby Rose from the radio. No wonder Yang was here, supporting her partner at an important inaugural event for work.

“Blake’s a fan of Semblance FM,” Yang revealed, “I thought it’d be good to bring her, she’s just moved to Vale.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Yang’s talked about you a lot. All last night she wouldn’t shut up about someone new she’d met,” Ruby said, beaming. She was an utter ray of sunshine, that much was obvious. Between them, Yang and Ruby might have just been the most optimistic pair in the world. Blake’s eyes focused on Yang’s arm as her grip tightened on the shorter woman, Ruby stumbling over her words. “I-I mean, I’m glad you could make it!”

“It’s nice to be here,” Blake said, “I’m glad I came. Your morning show really helped me when I first moved in.”   
  
“That’s awesome, I’m glad to hear it.” Ruby’s attention was suddenly taken up by her ringing phone. “Oops! Jaune’s calling, I’d better go back to the stage, you know how he gets. See ya later!”

With that, the girl was off in a whirlwind, deftly threading through the crowd until Blake lost visual on her. 

“She’s always like that, never goes anywhere slowly,” Yang said, standing so close to Blake that she could feel the blonde’s body heat. It was intoxicating. “Shall we go get some food or something? I’m starving!” With the statement came a firm pat on a flat stomach, and Blake couldn’t help but imagine what was hiding underneath the vest. A hot blush raced to her cheeks, and she looked away quickly.

“Sure,” she said, more confidently than she felt. “So long as there’s something edible.”

The blonde chuckled. “I totally get your hesitation, most the guys running the food stalls look like they never wash their hands.”

“That’s comforting.”

“There’s a woman who does the most amazing pretzels though. And she’s pretty clean, I promise. Sound good?”

Blake could feel her heart skipping in her chest as she took in those shining eyes and Yang’s gentle grin. 

“Sounds good to me.”

* * *

Yang was on tenterhooks ever since her dad and Ruby had let on that she’d been blabbing about Blake since they met. It was absolutely true; when she’d gotten home that day she had talked to Ruby for  _ hours _ , going through every minute detail of what had occurred at Blake’s apartment and analysing it as though it were a major sporting event. Despite having very little romantic experience to draw upon, Ruby had dutifully listened to her sister and offered her sage advice, which pretty much boiled down to  _ ‘just wait and see, it sounds promising’ _ . 

It may have sounded promising, and Blake  _ was _ actually here, sitting next to her in the grass a ways from the stage, picking at her pretzel with deft fingertips (which was adorable, in Yang’s opinion) as they took in the sun, but Yang still wasn’t taking anything for granted. She’d been burned one too many times by a girl who seemed to be giving off the right signals, only to later find out about her boyfriend or, worse still, awkwardly pushed away as she went in for the kiss.

“It’s such a nice day,” she said to fill the silence, not wanting Blake to feel awkward. 

“It is,” Blake responded. "Thanks for inviting me. It's nice to be out."

"My pleasure," Yang chirped, debating whether to ask her to a further outing, maybe even specify it to be a date. She kept her mouth shut in the end, bravery abandoning her at the last moment.  _ Get to know her first, idiot.  _ It was hard to speak when Blake's mere presence alone left her tongue-tied. 

"So," she drawled, squinting against the sun as she looked across the park. "Why'd you choose to come to Vale? I know you said your friend has a business here, but why uproot yourself?"

Blake hummed in thought. "I think I needed a change. I lived with my parents over in Menagerie, which gets old quickly when you have an overprotective father and a meddling mom. She has the best intentions but sometimes being set up on blind dates with her friends' children gets a bit old."

"Are you single at the moment?" Yang blurted, mentally slapping herself.  _ Desperate much?  _ "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry."

Blake giggled. "It's fine. Yes, I'm single. Haven't found Mrs Right just yet."

Yang tried to still her giddy excitement, tried to ignore the feeling that Blake had tacked on that last statement for a reason. "Oh. That's cool."

"Cool?"

"Uh… yeah. I mean, I'm just surprised. You're really beautiful, it's just surprising you haven't been taken yet. N-not that you're an object to be taken, obviously, sorry, it wasn't meant to come out like that-"

Blake's warm touch on her hand stopped her in her tracks, the feeling of the girl's fingers on her skin sending pleasant chills through every single nerve. 

"Yang," Blake said through another giggle. "I know you didn't mean it in a bad way. I'm flattered, thank you." A red tint was evident in her cheeks, and Yang felt herself smiling in response as their mutual stare was held for longer than necessary.

"You're welcome." The blonde took in a deep breath, fingers splayed in the grass as a sense of utter relaxation settled over her. She could get used to this, sitting side by side with Blake, day after day. They barely knew each other, but Yang felt more comfortable than she had with anyone bar her family.

"It must be nice having someone to come home to," Blake said wistfully. Her gaze was pinned to an old couple who sat a few feet away on a bench. "When I'm that age I think it'll just be me and ten cats watching daytime quiz shows."

"There's nothing wrong with daytime quiz shows."

"There's  _ everything  _ wrong with daytime quiz shows."

"I mean, I was trying to make you feel better about your fate, but you're right."

"I usually am."

Yang looked over, studying the glorious curves and planes of Blake's side profile. "You're wrong about one thing," she spoke softly, resisting the urge to tuck a strand of Blake's hair behind her ear when the girl looked at her. "When you're that age, I'm sure you'll be sat next to Mrs Right  _ and  _ your ten cats."

Before Blake could reply, those golden eyes hooded and filled with a flash of  _ something,  _ Ruby's voice echoed across the park from the stage, and Yang watched as Blake's smile faltered just a fraction. 

"Hey, people of Vale!" Ruby greeted, lifting an arm in response to the jovial cheer that was raised from the crowd. Yang couldn't help but beam with pride as her sister nervously clutched a microphone behind her laptop. Jaune was a tall figure next to her, his broad shoulders hunched over and giving away his own anxiety.

"We're so glad you could all make it," Jaune said, his pitch wavering as his eyes roamed over the attendees. He cleared his throat. “Uh, we’ve got lots in store for you, lots of local bands here to play for you, and of course our promised mystery guest.”

Another cheer sounded out at the promise of a potential star performing. Ruby had been required to keep their identity under lock and key, no matter how much Yang had nagged her to divulge the top secret information. 

The presenters began to banter as they became more comfortable, and Blake broke the silence between herself and Yang.

“I bet you’re so proud of her.” She almost sounded sad, and Yang had to whip her head round to reassure herself that Blake was still smiling.

“Yeah, she’s come a long way,” she confirmed, “I think getting the job at Semblance FM was the best thing that could have happened to her.”

“You make a wonderful couple.”

Yang almost choked on a sip of water, requiring a few hard slaps on the back from Blake before she could recover. “Whoa, me and Ruby, we’re not together, we’re sisters.” 

Had Blake gone this entire time thinking that Ruby was her girlfriend? The blonde felt like her skin was inside out, disgusted at the mere thought. She racked her brains, mentally slapping herself when she realised that she’d never introduced Ruby as her sibling.  _ Well done, genius. _

“Oh…” Blake trailed, as though waiting for the news to sink in. Her eyes suddenly widened in realisation. “Oh! I’m so sorry, I just presumed you were together.” She wouldn’t make eye contact with Yang, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, probably regretting saying anything at all. 

“It’s alright, I never said she was my sister to be fair, I’d probably assume the same thing,” Yang said, hoping to take the edge off Blake’s embarrassment from the faux pas. “I’m blissfully single too, which means I can watch as much bad TV as I want without being judged for it.” She hoped the words would convey to Blake that she was on the market, and open to offers, but only from the raven-haired woman.

“I’m judging you pretty hard,” Blake stated with a smirk. “Being single doesn’t shield you from that, I’m afraid.”

“Unless you’re sharing my TV, you don’t get an opinion,” Yang teased, “In fact, you don’t even have a TV. So you definitely get no opinion. You can read a book or something whilst I watch season three of  _ Real Housewives of Atlas. _ ”

“A woman of culture, I see.”

“If you aren’t watching two wealthy women drink pinot grigio and argue over a kale salad, then what are you doing of value?”

“You bring up a good point. I’ve been missing out on so much enrichment.”

“You’re more than welcome to come over and binge watch the second season. The first season was sort of low budget, which is ironic, and it’s not to everyone’s taste. The second season is where they introduce Emerald Sustrai and lord, she is a  _ bitch _ , but the drama is delicious and probably what the first season was missing, if I’m being honest…” She trailed off as Blake met her eyes with a mystified expression. She rewound through her pointless monologue, heat rushing up her neck as she realised she’d just invited Blake to her home, even though they’d only just met. “Uh, sorry, that was probably a bit creepy of me to invite you over to watch some dumb show when we barely know each other-” 

“I-I’d love to,” Blake blurted suddenly, looking as though she’d shocked herself by saying the words. “Maybe after we’ve gone for coffee sometime?”

Yang could feel a smile so wide threatening to split her face in two. “Really? That would be great.” She took a deep breath, mustering up all the bravery she had. “L-Like a date?”

Blake suddenly looked away, though Yang could tell it was only from shyness, hiding her own reddening face. “Yes, a date.”

The blonde’s heart soared at the statement, and she felt like she could do ten laps of the park without breaking a sweat. “Nice. Nice. Vale Coffee House, next Saturday maybe? Or is that too soon? I can always-”

“That’s fine, really, fine with me.”

“Cool, cool, I can pick you up around midday?”

“That sounds good, are you sure you won’t be going out of your way?”

“Nah, don’t be silly, it’s no issue.”

“As long as you’re sure, I don’t want it to be any bother.”

“Not at all! You’re on the way, but I’d still pick you up even if you weren’t, for the record.”

“Charming  _ and  _ chivalrous - do I stand a chance against you?”

Yang met Blake’s twinkling eyes, winking as she replied, “not at all.”

* * *

Blake was on cloud nine as the day wound to an end. She and Yang had made the most of their time together after agreeing to a date, which was something she still had to pinch herself over.

Yang was walking beside her as they made their way to the exit of the park, the blonde helpfully offering Blake a lift back home, which was gratefully accepted. In Yang’s hands was a teddy bear, won for her by Blake on one of the many game stalls they had frequented, which only revealed that Yang couldn’t throw a ball in a straight line if her life depended on it.

“Whatcha smiling at?”

Blake was pulled from the memory by the sound of Yang’s voice, the woman swinging her long arms, teddy bear sailing through the air as she did so.

“Be careful with him,” Blake chided, forgetting about the original question. “You’ll get him dirty if you drop him.”

“Don’t worry, I know his limits,” Yang said, nevertheless throwing the bear up in the air, catching it around its middle and clutching it to her chest. “But I’ll be  _ careful. _ ”

“Good, we didn’t spend an eye-watering amount of lien trying to win him for you to get him hurt.”

“It took you one attempt, Blake.”

“It’s the principle of it. Charging a fortune for a rigged contest.”

“I’ll buy your coffee to make it up to you, how’s that?”

“That’s alright for now I guess, but I’ll be wanting a teddy bear of my own, just so you’re aware.”

“Of course, any more demands?”

“Not yet, but I’ll let you know.”

“Please do.” Yang jogged ahead of Blake to the passenger door of her van, opening it and making a sweeping gesture with her hand. “Your chariot awaits. Please ignore any ripped seats, scuff marks, leftover sandwich crusts, footprints, odd smells, insects, small animals-”

“It’s fine, trust me, I’m just happy for the ride,” Blake reassured, sitting down, clipping in her seatbelt and taking the bear from Yang, sitting it on her lap.

Yang scratched the back of her head nervously. “Ha, sorry, just don’t want you to think I’m gross. This van is pretty much my office.”

“You should see Sun’s car, a ride in there means wading through a ridiculous amount of crumbs and noodle boxes.”

“I don’t feel too bad now,” Yang said, sliding into the driver’s seat and starting the van. “How long have you known Sun?”

Blake let Yang concentrate on reversing the vehicle and pulling out of the car park onto the main road before responding. “I’ve known him forever, since his mom moved to Menagerie with him. We went to school together, college together, then worked together for a while. It’s only the last couple of years that we haven’t been close by each other, but now we’re both in Vale again.”

“Couldn’t get enough of him, huh?” Yang joked.

“He’s such a hunk, how could I resist?” Blake said sarcastically.

“I’ve got competition, I get it, I’ll smoke him.”

“I’m not sure you can compare with his abs.”

Yang laughed as the city lights whizzed by. Blake couldn’t remember the last time she felt so content to simply sit in someone’s company.

“You haven’t seen these abs yet,” the blonde said, looking over with a glint in her eye. 

Blake blushed, ducking her gaze but shaking her head nonetheless. “Is everyone with defined abs this obnoxious?”

“Abs-olutely!”

“Wow, that was terrible. Let me out.”

“You should appreciate a great pun, isn’t it a good use of language, or something?”

“Hmm, that’s one way of looking at it. The wrong way, but nice argument.”

Yang scoffed playfully. “You have no taste, noted.”

All too soon, the ride was at an end, the blonde pulling into the layby outside Blake’s apartment building. As the van came to a gentle stop, handbrake applied, Blake felt the atmosphere thicken with a sense of anticipation. Was this the part where they would kiss? The thought quickened her heartbeat, creating shivers that started on the back of her neck and raced down her spine.

“So…” Yang drawled, filling the heavy silence. “Here we are, your humble abode, safe and sound.”

“Thank you,” Blake said genuinely, glad she hadn’t needed to take the congested public transport. “I really appreciate it.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” the blonde brushed off with a shrug. The silence continued for another beat as she shifted in her seat. “Uh, I guess I’ll, erm… see you Saturday?”

“Yeah, around midday,” Blake confirmed, repeating Yang’s earlier words aloud. Another beat passed, and she finally unclipped her seatbelt. “I’d better get inside.”

“Totally,” Yang said with a nod, focusing her gaze straight at Blake, the hooded eye contact a little intense for the darker-haired woman to handle as the blonde looked at her lips, as though she wanted to close the gap between them. Blake looked away. Yang just looked so inviting, it was unfair, with her permanently mussed-up hair and kissable lips and intoxicating scent, something between vanilla and the fresh outdoors. It was so  _ unfair. _

Blake pushed down the urge to invite the woman in for coffee, worried that the notion would be misconstrued into something neither of them were ready for, instead reaching for the door handle and pushing it open, the muggy air greeting her bare arm. “Thanks, Yang. I had a really nice time today. I… I’m glad we met.”

“Thank the gods for FNKI, huh?” Yang joked, a gentle smile lighting up her features. “I’m glad we met too.”

“See you Saturday,” Blake said, as way of goodbye as she stepped out of the van, placing the teddy bear carefully onto the seat she had just vacated. She quickly rounded the van and closed the distance to the door of her apartment building, willing herself to not look back and look too desperate. Unable to stop herself, she turned to see Yang lift her hand, shyly waving her own in response before shoving her keycard against the reader, pushing through into the lobby with a ridiculous smile on her face.

She could almost imagine the look on Sun’s mug when she would report back with all the gossip. The elevator ride seemed to take forever when all she wanted to do is sit back, relax, and wind herself up for the date on Saturday by psychoanalysing everything that had happened today.

Her apartment was dark and uninviting when she got in, turning on her lamp for a cosier ambience before striding to the window, looking down to the street below. She was surprised to see Yang still parked up, figuring that the woman would have been hightailing it home by now at the late hour, eager to wish her sister a big well done on an important event. 

Two voices warred in her head, logic versus emotion, and she stood there for a moment, heart beating so loud she could hear it in her ears.

_ Is it too soon? _

_ Why wait? Life is for living. _

_ What would your mother think? _

_ She’d be cheering on like it’s an episode of her dreadful Leonardo Lionheart drama. _

She tore out of her apartment door, flying down the stairs as fast as she could without falling down them. Her long legs took her out of the lobby in no time, straight across the sidewalk to the driver side of the vehicle. Noting with a warm heart that Yang had taken the time to strap the teddy bear into the passenger seat as though it were precious cargo, she rapped on the glass to gain Yang’s attention.

The window wound down, Yang looked at her with wide eyes. “Oh hey Blake, forget something?” 

“Kind of,” Blake said, chest hurting with anxiety from what she was about to ask. 

“To be fair, these seats just eat anything you put down on them. I swear there’s like two hammers, a spanner, a few travel mugs and at least four-hundred lien hiding in the cushions-”

“Can… can I kiss you?” Blake blurted, interrupting Yang’s nervous rambling.

For a few dreadful seconds, Yang looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but then her face was overtaken by a megawatt grin. “You sure you can handle this?”

Blake rolled her eyes. Trust Yang to totally derail her fantasy of them sharing a perfectly romantic first kiss. Whilst it was frustrating, it was an utterly  _ Yang  _ thing to do, and served well to allow logic to once again take over. She mustered a smirk which probably came across a lot more confident than she felt. “Maybe you’re right, I should wait until we see each other again.” She spun on her heel, heading back towards her apartment as Sun’s mantra of  _ ‘treat em mean, keep em keen Blakey!’  _ ran through her mind.

“Wait!” She heard Yang shout, the sound of the van door opening and closing echoing down the empty street, followed by the padding of jogging footsteps. 

A soft grip closed around her wrist, forcing a willing Blake to turn back around and feel her breath hitch in her throat, having to comprehend in a split second just how powerful a feeling it was to have someone so close with nothing but attraction and intent in their eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Yang said quietly, brushing her thumb over the smooth skin of her forearm. “I get stupid when I’m nervous… guess I kinda just ruined our potential first kiss, huh? Can I at least give you an ‘I’m sorry’ hug?”

Blake couldn’t help but smile. “Okay, I’ll allow it.”

The embrace was warm and safe, something Blake felt she could bathe in forever. She took a deep breath from her vantage point on Yang’s shoulder, trying to commit the scent to memory as her head swam. Yang’s hands felt hot on her lower back, pulling their bodies flush together, Blake’s legs starting to turn to jelly from how intense her body’s reaction was to the contact. 

She pulled back from the hug slightly, just enough to place a hand on Yang’s cheek, the blonde allowing herself to be guided into a kiss. It was brief, but enough for Blake to sink into and yearn for more when they parted, heat pooling in her stomach and pulse pounding. They stayed like that for a few seconds, staring at each other’s lips as they both reeled from the intensity of it all, before Blake stepped back, instantly missing the warmth that had enveloped her.

“I’ll see you Saturday, Yang,” she said, stifling a laugh at the blonde’s dumbstruck expression. “Don’t be late.”

“Uh… yeah, no, course! I’ll be right on time! Early maybe! Gotcha!” Yang’s face was stuck in a grin as she walked backwards, almost stumbling as she walked straight into her driver’s side door. 

Blake giggled at the sight. “Try to get home safe, okay?”

Yang opened the door, clambering into the van and sticking her head out of the open window. “You have to go inside first, you’re too distracting for me to drive safely.”

“You just want to stare at my backside as I walk away, don’t you?”

“Maybe.”

Blake couldn’t help but laugh, playfully extending her middle finger up to Yang as the blonde stuck her tongue out in return. She turned away reluctantly, but with a light heart, almost buoyant as she headed to her apartment.

She heard the van start behind her, followed by a shout of “damn, look at that ass!” with a laugh attached before the tyres screeched, the other woman tearing away from the layby and heading home.

A fleeting thought crossed her mind that she'd  _ still  _ forgotten to pay Yang, but somehow she doubted the blonde cared all that much. _ Who in the world have I just let kiss me?  _ She thought wistfully, a love-drunk smile plastered on her face as she watched the vehicle disappear around the corner.

Someone impossibly found in those thirty-one boxes of bullshit, it seem.

Sun was right. Flat pack furniture was  so the future _. _


End file.
